The UNSC and the Citadel Council
by Lord Okkirke
Summary: What if it had not been the Systems Alliance that made made first contact with the Citadel Species but a UNSC that never encountered the Covenant? The Story begins in 2607 CE(Mass Effect timeline is adjusted by 450 years to line up properly) with the First Contact War.


**Timeline & Prologue**

98.700 BCE  
The Forerunner Empire, along with the Inusannon and the Thoi'han, are attacked by the Reapers. Over the course of the next 100 years first the Inusannon and the Thoi'han are quickly overwhelmed due to their over-reliance on E-Zero and Mass Effect Technology. The Forerunners however manage to fight them over the next 1000 years in a slow fighting retreat (towards the general area in which Earth lies) during which they strip Systems of their mass relay and deploy them wherever the Reapers concentrate and destroy them (using the mass relay as a System destroying Bomb). Having destroyed all relays in a 10.000 light year distance around both Sol and what would later be known as the Exodus Cluster, the Reapers no longer had a way to assault the Forerunners and, after deploying several of their number to watch the region of space were the Forerunners had disappeared into, retreated from known space once more.

The war however had also had a heavy toll on the Forerunners because almost 99% of their Population had died and almost all of their Inhabited systems destroyed. The final decision of the Forerunner remnant was to build a large Dyson sphere which, since its completing after 30.000 years of construction, they have not left.

68.000 BCE  
The Protheans achieve spaceflight and discover mass effect technology from the ruins of the extinct Inusannon. They over the 20.000 years establish a galaxy-wide civilization linked together by the mass relay network with the Citadel as their Capital. The most notable exception in their rule of the galaxy is the region of space they call the blasted systems (the Systems in which the Forerunners fought the Reapers) and they theorize that who ever destroyed those systems most likely also destroyed the mass relay network there and so they generally leave the area unexplored. The main impetus to their establishing a galaxy-wide Empire is the conflict known as the "Metacon War" for which they unified as many organic races as possible under their rule to fight against a hostile machine Race.

48.000 BCE  
The Prothean Empire collapses with the arrival of the Reapers through the Citadel. Although the Protheans had learned of the Reapers' existence from studying the ruins of previous civilizations and had begun to prepare they were caught off-guard when instead of coming from the blasted systems (they had found records indicating that that was where they were last sighted) they arrived at the Citadel. Over next several centuries (and they manage this only because the Reapers lost a significant amount of ships in the last cycle to the Forerunners), the Protheans fight the Reapers system by system, world by world, and city by city. In the end, it still is not enough and the various races of the Prothean Empire are wiped out. The Reapers then retreat back to dark space to await the next cycle. They also decide that, now that their numbers have somewhat recovered from the war against the Forerunners and they didn't show themselves this cycle, that they can start deploying the mass relays that they had built over the last 50.000 years to begin reestablishing the destroyed parts of the mass relay network.

While they have been productive during their stay in dark space, they did not manage to build enough relays to replace all lost ones. Thus they briefly scout out several systems for sentient species, place relays were they find them and reconnect them with as much of the rest of relay network as possible. They also move some of the wrecked ships of the Protheans into such Systems as to influence their development. During their brief survey they miss reconnoitering the Sol-system.

Among the places they establish new relays however is the Shili system, which is home to the Togruta(who are the native sentient species of the planet Shili). This System lies about 200 Light Years (LY) from the Sol system in the direction of the Exodus cluster. The Relay itself is connected to a relay in the Exodus cluster. Which in turn is connected to relays in the Horse Head Nebula, the Serpent Nebula, Hades Gamma and area around Kite's Nest.

1.450 BCE  
The Krogans on Tuchanka enter the nuclear age and in a global conflict use enough of them to trigger a nuclear winter. As a result the krogan society devolves into a collection of warring clans.

1.000 BCE  
Beginning of the Iron age in Greece

509 BCE  
Rom becomes a Republic.

490 BCE  
The Battle of Marathon occurs.

400 BCE  
The Togruta enter the Iron age. At this point in their history they have also started forming small city states that are somewhat in competition with each other (due to the Togruta being carnivores and several very large and dangerous predators the cities are located rather far apart).

323 BCE  
Death of Alexander the Great.

130 BCE  
The Asari develop faster-than-light space faring capabilities based upon Prothean technology. They also begin exploring the mass relay network and eventually find the huge Citadel Space Station at a hub of many mass relays.

70 BCE  
The Salarians discover the Citadel.

50 BCE  
Founding of the Citadel Council in the wake of the Asari and Salarians colonizing the Citadel. This establishes it as the center of their galactic community.

First contact is made with the Volus. They are eventually commissioned by the Citadel Council to draw up the Unified Banking Acct, which establishes the credit as a standard galactic currency and links all of their economies.

The Turian Unification War occurs.

27 BCE  
Ascension of Augustus as the absolute ruler of Rome and its Empire. Official end of the Roman Republic and beginning of the Pax Romana.

250 CE to 451 CE  
The Volus are the first species to be granted an embassy on the Citadel, rather than a Seat on the Council.

First Contact is made with the Batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.

First Contact with the Elcor is made by Asari discovering their home system and activating their nearest mass relay. They establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy within a Elcor's lifetime.

First Contact is made with the Hanar and the Quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.

451 CE  
Beginning of the Rachni Wars.

476 CE  
Collapse of the Western Roman Empire and beginning of the medieval Period.

530 CE  
The Rachni Wars continue and the Salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive Krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council.

750 CE  
The Rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their services during the Rachni Wars the Krogan are rewarded with a new home world.

800 CE  
Coronation of Charlemagne.

750 CE to 1150 CE  
The Krogan, due to being free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, experience a explosive population growth and begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns regarding their expansion eventually lead to the founding of the **Spec**ial **T**actics and **Re**connaissance (SPECTRE) branch of the Citadel in 1143 CE.

1095 CE  
The First Crusade begins.

1150 CE  
The Krogan Rebellions begin.

First contact with the Turian Hierarchy. After a preemptive strike by Spectres on Krogan infrastructures after calls by the Council for the Krogan to retreat from the Asari Colony of Lusia are ignored. The Citadel Council manages to persuade the Hierarchy to aid them in the war against the Krogan. The Krogan respond to the initial Turian offense by devastating several Turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction which spurs to Turian leadership to vow that they will stop the Krogan from ever becoming a threat again. Sometime after the Turian first contact the Volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy.

1160 CE  
The Turin Hierarchy unleash the Salarian engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage on the Krogan. Krogan population numbers start to decline as a result.

1250 CE  
The Krogan Rebellions officially end, although anti-insurgent actions will continue for decades. The Turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated Krogan. The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

1337 CE  
Beginning of the hundred year war between the Kingdoms of England and France.

1350 CE  
The Turians are granted a Seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.

1453 CE  
The Fall of Constantinople and end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

1492 CE  
Columbus discovers the "New World" of the Americas.

1789 CE  
The French Revolution.

1815 CE  
End of the Napoleonic Wars. Beginning of the industrial Age in Europe.

1850 CE  
Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the Drell home world of Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment.

1871 CE  
Unification of both Germany and Italy

1914 CE to 1918 CE  
The First World War begins. This four year conflict consumed 20 million live and lead to the creation and development of Tanks, Chemical weapons and military aircraft.

1939 CE to 1945 CE  
The Second World War. This conflict sees 60 million dead and ends with the detonation of two atomic bombs over the Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1945 CE  
Founding of the United Nations (UN)

1949 CE  
Beginning of the Cold War.

1969 CE  
Apollo 11 lands on the moon (Luna).

1989 CE  
Fall of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.

2050 CE  
First sighting of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems.

2080 CE  
Colonization of both Mars and the Jovian moons by national governments, under UN oversight, begins.

2160 CE  
The Jovian Moons Campaign

2162 CE  
The Rainforest Wars

2163 CE  
Formation of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC)

2164 CE to 2170 CE  
The Interplanetary War between UN-Forces, the Koslovics and the Jovian Frieden Ends in Victory for the UN.

2170 CE  
Establishment of the Unified Earth Government (UEG) which governs the entire Sol system.

2205 CE  
Samara's three daughters are diagnosed as Ardat-Yakshi. After Morinth flees Samara takes the oaths of the Asari Justicars and pursues her errant daughter for the next 430 years.

2250 CE  
The Togruta start entering the industrial age. They have however not developed firearms, due to their echolocation ability reacting poorly to the noise the early models (see IE the blunderbuss) made as well as attracting unwanted attention from predators.

The UEG finishes the construction of it's first O'Neill Cylinders. They are an important piece of the UEG plans for housing and feeding the growing amount of people in the Sol-system.

2291 CE  
The first Faster than Light drive is invented by Wallace Fujikawa and Tobias Shaw. By this point the Sol system is inhabited by Humans living both on Planets (Earth & Mars), in Moon colonies (Luna, Jovian, Jupiter's Moons, etc.) and O'Neill Cylinders.

2302 CE  
The first Orbital Elevator on Earth(in New Mombasa) is constructed. While several Orbital Elevators already exist in places with a lower gravity than on Earth, the construction of several elevators for Earth had been a goal of the UN's Colonial department since it's inception.

2310 CE  
Founding of the Colonial Administration Authority (CAA) which serves as the primary governing body for all extra-solar colonies of the UEG.

2330 CE  
Aria T'Loak arrives on Omega and is soon one of the local warlords trusted lieutenants.

2345 CE  
The Geth War begins as a result of the Quarians' AI servitors (called Geth) becoming self-aware and the Quarians beginning to dismantle them in the hope of preventing a uprising of them. The Quarians are eventually expelled by the Geth from their home and colony systems and are forced to live as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet after the Citadel Council decides to punish them for creating the Geth by striping them of their embassy on the Citadel (essentially declaring them to be a rogue species).

2362 CE  
The First Wave of interstellar colony ships leave the Sol system. These ships sail under the flag of the CAA and amongst the first Colonies founded is Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system, which would later become one of the primary shipyards and training ground for the UNSC.

2371 CE  
The Geth begin the construction of a mega-structure designed to house and simultaneously run every Geth program in existence.

2390 CE  
By this date 210 extra-solar colonies have been established. These Colonies would later comprise the "Inner colonies". This year also marks the beginning of the Inner Colony Wars where various Colonies Protests and Riots for more (and better) Political Representation cause massive civil unrest in the Sol system. The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) would use these Wars as the justification for censoring news from then on.

2400 CE  
The Togruta manage to establish a world-government. This is mostly achieved trough peaceful means but several minor wars were fought to achieve this.

2430 CE  
Aria T'Loak assumes control of Omega.

2450 CE  
The Hanar make first contact with the still planet-bound Drell. The Drell home world of Rakhana is at this point hopelessly overpopulated and has a severely damaged ecosystem that was poised for a massive crash by 2475 CE. The Hanar, agreeing to help the Drell, mount a large scale rescue operation in which they evacuate approximately 375.000 Drell to their home world. The remaining 11 billion Drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water.

2517 CE  
The SPARTAN-II Program is set up on Reach under the direction of Dr. Halsey. Goal of the Program is to create small commando teams of super-soldiers that can be used to decapitate any cell of the insurrection without causing greater loss of life among both the civilian population and UNSC personnel. The 75 recruits are on average 6 years old.

2527 CE  
Birth of Liara T'Soni.

2494 CE to 2553 CE  
Various protests and small uprisings against the CAA's oversight and bureaucracy in the more than 800 Colonies finally culminate in what would later be known as the Insurrection. This long and bloody civil war is caused in part by a breakthrough in artificial gravity systems and inertia dampeners in early 2500 which makes greater accelerations for Ships larger than fighters possible and makes the majority of the UNSC Fleet's Capital ships very obsolete. The UNSC's inexperience in ship design that takes these changes into consideration leaves severe weaknesses in the early new construction (a lack of intermediate artillery for use against fast corvette sized ships being the largest) and leaves the majority of these ships either too small, under-powered and under-armed or too large, with the wrong weapons mix and to expensive. The Insurrection however, knowing that they could not out build the UNSC in terms of capital ships and also in possession of the better artificial gravity systems, decide to concentrate their efforts on lighter ships and improving their capabilities. This eventually leads to the development of a bomb-pumped x-ray laser warhead (the nuclear blast is forced through a short-lived lens of gravity) for missiles. The early models built by the Insurrection however were to large to be fitted onto any existing shipboard missile which, in conjunction with the observed lack of intermediate artillery of the UNSC, lead to the development and construction of a corvette design that was essentially a torpedo boat (the ship is 200m long, very fast, carries enough armor fore-ward to be immune to the AA- and point- defense Guns and is armed with the same amount of AA- and point-defense Guns as on a Stalwart-Class Frigate, two missile-pods which each contain 12 very large missiles armed with laser warheads that are called Torpedoes, and a single forward facing Onager -type Coil gun). [AN: for the UNSC and other Rebel ships see Canon sources]

The Insurrection officially starts with the Callisto Incident in January 2494 and Secessionists seizing control of Eridanus II in the same year. Having to deal with various smaller (and less successful) rebellions else where, the UNSC response was delayed until 2496 when Operation:CHARLEMAGNE was launched which led to the removal of the Secessionist forces. At the dawn of the 2500s Operation:KALEIDOSCOPE was conducted for 5 years with the goal of eliminating rebel leaders in surgical strikes. In 2513 Eridanus II is again seized by Rebel forces and the UNSC's response was Operation:TREBUCHET of which the first part was the recapture of Eridanus II and later a rather heavy handed offensive to bring all dissenting Outer Colonies in line. The Operation would be successfully continued until late 2525 when UNSC forces tried to defeat the Insurrection forces that had seized the 23 Librae system. The UNSC task force consisted of one Valiant-class Super Heavy Cruiser as a Flagship, 12 Marathon- class Cruisers, 6 Halcyon-class light Cruisers, 24 Frigates of various classes, 2 Phoenix- class Assault Ships and 20 UNSC Marine Transport Ships (each holding a single Regiment). Upon arrival this Force split itself into two groups one (made out of 3/4 of the Frigates, the Phoenix-class Assault Ships and the Marine Transport Ships) which immediately began the assault on the Planet and the other (consisting the rest of the ships) which made for the enemy's space forces (ten Frigates and four Destroyers) which had taken up position close to the so called 'Rubble'. Once the engagement between these two forces had been joined the Insurrectionist Admiral sprung his trap by deploying almost 50 Torpedoboat Corvettes which had been hiding within the 'Rubble'. This act alone turned the 'Battle at the Rubble' into a Pyrrhic victory for the Insurrectionist forces because while they had managed to outright destroy the Marathon- class Cruisers and the six Frigates and cripple the rest (in fact both the Valiant- and half the Halcyon- Class Cruisers would later be declared Total Constructive Losses), their own forces had also lost the majority of their forces (only two Frigates and two Destroyers along with a tenth of the Corvettes managed to retreat from the system).

With the Insurrectionist Navy's Torpedoboat now having proven to be able to destroy larger ships they began a large counteroffensive that while ultimately unsuccessful non the less managed to destroy a significant amount of UNSC assets over the next ten years.

After battle investigations into how the UNSC lost the 'battle at the Rubble' would show that the ambush was in large part made possible by several high-ranking members of the Colonial Military Administration (CMA) that had been briefed on the operation leaking the force composition and initial battle plan to the Insurrection. This would lead in early 2526 to the UNSC high command striping the CMA of the majority of its assets (ships, ground-formations and equipment) and effectively sidelining it for the rest of the war.

After the UNSC ended Operation: TREBUCHET due to their loss of the 'Battle at the Rubble' they started deploying Spartans for the first time in Operation:TALON against Insurrectionist Leaders and were later used both to eliminate enemy leaders and to acquire examples of their new Weapons and ships.

By 2540 the use of the Spartans had blunted the Insurrection's all out offensive (while they couldn't really kill any of them due to the Mjolnir IV Armors, the Insurrection managed to hide fairly well) and new construction of UNSC Warships, that had been built with the experience gained over the course of the war, was finally available in sufficient numbers that the UNSC could once again go back on the offensive.

By 2550, while the UNSC had managed to defeat the insurrection on almost every battlefield, the continuously rising costs of this war, that had by this point lasted more than 5 decades, have lead to a small majority of Politicians in the UEG deciding that political reforms are more than necessary to prevent further bloodshed.

2553 CE  
The establishment of the United Systems Government(USG) officially ends the Insurrection, although they would still be plagued with piracy for the next decade.

The USG is a Federal Republic with a house of Representatives (elected by the entire population of the USG) and a Senate(who are elected by each system with a population over 5 Billion) with a total population of almost 11,5 Trillion humans. The UNSC continues on to be it's main military, exploratory and scientific agency while both the powers and resources of the CAA are reduced dramatically due to almost 450 systems gaining the right to elect a Senator and their own system-government.

2563 CE  
1000th System is Colonized by the CAA. (There are military and mining outposts in quite a lot more systems)

The Togruta manage to build a broadcast Radio station powerful enough that it's signals can be listened to in the neighboring systems (once the signals reach them).

2564 CE  
The UNSC high command presents the USG with their plans for the restructuring of their Fleets and their proposed build plans for the next two decades. They envision enlarging the Fleet by almost 200% (they had taken into consideration the proposed expansion of USG space over the next years) and the establishment of several nodal fleets. This plan however is seen as slightly too costly by the USG and so they have to make due with their current construction program (which had been reduced after the end of the insurrection) and would until 2600 shift focus to building more Frigates and Destroyers (although all older Cruisers and Carriers would be extensively refitted).

This Year also marks the beginning of the "Golden Years" of the USG which would come to an end in 2607 CE.

2575 CE  
The Citadel Council makes first contact with the Yahg.

The surviving members of the Spartan II project (almost ¾ of the original group survived due to the Mjolnir IV armor being almost immune to enemy fire, indeed most Spartans that died were killed when the ships they were on were destroyed) are now almost 65 Years old. While their genetic- and mechanical-augmentations, long periods of time spent in Cryostasis and other medical treatments have slowed their aging, the UNSC decides to begin a Spartan III program and to start introducing some of the less costly improvements to the ODST and their equipment(such as the Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Helljumper). At the same time the Mjolnir VI, which were a general improvement of previous model(but they still did not have energy shields although work in that direction continued), suits are issued to the existing Spartans.

2584 CE  
Birth of David Anderson.

Due to the reduced amount of money spent on new construction, and a higher amount of research into 'civilian' technologies such as a greater trans-light speed, the UNSC begins a refit-program of all it's active ships to increase their speed from 2,6 LY/Day to 4,5 LY/ Day. This program is completed by 2592.

2587 CE  
Birth of Saren Arterius.

Birth of Kahlee Sanders.

2596 CE  
Birth of Thane Krios.

2598 CE  
After constructing a Deep Space Research Array (DSRA) on Taurus in the 111 Tauri system for the observation of a neighboring galaxy, the UNSC finds first hints of previous alien civilizations that have been destroyed (IE they decided to look at a neighboring system and found evidence of a very old mining operation on an asteroid). The proof of intelligent alien life existing (even if what they found is long dead and mostly useless ruins) causes, due to the civilian personnel accidentally leaking this tidbit, starts at first a minor panic in the population and, when they questioned the UNSC about their Battle-readiness, severe consternation in the higher echelons of the USG due to the UNSC saying that the Fleet at it's momentary size is far to small for any offensive action and that it's current structure was geared more towards the defense of their systems from piracy and small scale rebellion(It consists mainly of corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers and older refitted Insurrection-era Ships). The UNSC is, upon hearing this, ordered by the USG to be drastically expanded so that it may be able to wage an interstellar war against any invader.

The Plan presented by the UNSC to accomplish this expansion is the following:

-Each System with more than 5 Billion inhabitants will have it's own system defense fleet(although they drastically vary in size because for example the Sol system, with its almost 660 Billion inhabitants, has a fleet of several Battle-groups while the smallest, in a system with barely more than 5.5 billion, only has a pair of light Cruisers). These would in the main be the already existing ships, although for example the destroyers and frigates necessary to form the Patrol-groups of the Nodal Fleets as well as ships for the CMA would also be drawn from these. (Corvettes and Lighter craft are not counted as they number in the millions and serve in various roles)

-Every 100 Systems would have a Nodal Fleet for either reinforcing attacked systems or for use in offensive actions. These Nodal Fleets (1st to 10th would each consist of 1 Mobile Repair Platform (Cradle II_class), 3 Super Carriers (Reach-Class), 1 Falklands- Class Assault-Carrier, 2 Battle-groups, 1 Patrol-group, and enough Roughneck-Class Troop transports for an UNSC Army Army-group and a Fleet train of resupply ships and various ONI Vessels (for example Prowlers).

The building and expansion of both the necessary infrastructure and the ships for the UNSC is estimated to take 3 decades. In the mean time both the CAA and ONI are instructed to expand their exploratory efforts so that by 2610 CE every System within 200 LY has been given at least a cursory look-over for any sign of alien activity.

2599 CE  
The Population on Shili of Togruta grows past the Billion mark. Their Government at this point starts worrying about overpopulation and where further food animals might be raised as large Predators are still a very large worry. The Togruta begin experimenting with both Calculating machines and Televisions.

2600 CE  
During a Routine Survey of a System approximately 180 LY from Sol (and 30 LY from Shili) the ONI Prowler _UNSC Charon_ under the command of Commander Jon Grissom intercepts a 30 years old Radio broadcast made by the Togruta. After the crew has determinated the Signals origin (Triangulation), and discovers that it's coming from a system about 30 LY away, Commander Grissom drops a message buoy and proceeds to jump to the Shili system. On arrival the_ Charon_ is able to determine that the Planet is the origin of the Radio-signal and apparently home to an alien species that has yet to leave it's planet. After a two day stay in the system, recording as much about the Togruta as is possible from orbit, the _Charon _deploys several spy satellites, that are set to record all activity and signals they can observe, and then returns to the closest Naval base to report it's find. Three and a half months later a small Flotilla carrying diplomats and scientists arrives in the system to make Humanity's first contact with another species. While the diplomats, politicians and scientists of both the Humans and Togrutans begin talks about trade and the relationship of Shili to the USG, the UNSC Flotilla discovers a Mass Relay at the edge of the system. The discovery of an intact piece of alien technology, and the scientists, after accidentally activating it, quickly determining it's function as a transportation device, gives both the Togruta and the USG diplomats the impetus to have the Togruta join the USG. In exchange for both uplifting their tech-base, they waive the minimum of 5 Billion inhabitants that would normally be necessary for a for the Shili system to have a Senator in the USG Senate. Two things, the availability of the technology to grow meat in a vat and Colonies without large natural Predators, would prove to make the population of Togruta almost explode (almost a 4% per year growth). The official "Annexation Day" is the 31st December 2600 CE and marks the beginning of the rather good relationship between both Humanity and the Togruta. After the first contact with the Citadel it would only deepen due to both seeing the inequality of the rights of Citadel species. Miranda Lawson is born.

2601 CE  
After the celebrations of the successful first contact of both Humans and Togrutans are over and the first scouts have returned from their trips trough the mass relay, the USG and UNSC begin pouring massive amounts of resources into the Shili system. By 2610 the Planet would have three complete Orbital elevators, the beginnings of a large space- borne industry and several yards in which ships can be constructed as the UNSC plans to turn it into the Node where the planed 11th Fleet would be based. These plans are made in response to scouts using the mass relay finding both the Earth-like planets Terra Nova, Eden Prime and Demeter and several inactive mass relays within 5 LY of the exit- point of the Shili Mass Relay. The Reasoning for this is that the Mass Relay could be used as a shortcut to different parts of the galaxy and the 11th Fleet would be able to deploy quickly to both threats close to Shili as well as those on the other side of the Mass Relay. The UNSC updates its building program to adjust for the formation of this 'extra' new Fleet and plans to build enough ships that by 2635 they would be able to assemble a 12th Fleet with minimal delay.

2602 CE  
The CAA in response to the discovery of these three very Earth-like Planets (they, contrary to the majority of both the former Inner- and Outer-colonies, need only very little in Terms of Terra-forming) begin colonizing them. The majority of the colonists come from the Inner-Colonies (as well as Shili for Eden Prime) and by the end of the decade each Planet would have at least 500.000 Inhabitants. Scouts both from ONI and the CAA continue to open new mass relays and scout the systems in their immediate vicinity (IE within 20LY), often finding at least 1 Earth-like planet. This leads to a veritable wave of colonists from the 'inner'-Colonies. Thane Krios is submitted for training as an assassin under the Hanar.

2604 CE  
The Planet Shanxi, which is located in the same system together with a several mass relays that are suspected to lead to other regions of the galaxy, is settled. The UNSC decides, within the first 6 months of the first settlers arriving, to base the to be established 12th Fleet here. Work on the Fleets facilities are to begin in 2610. Meanwhile a somewhat larger than normal contingent of UNSC Army troops is assigned to garrison the Planet as it's system is to be the main local military base. Jane Shepard is born.

2605 CE  
Saren Arterius is promoted to active service in the Turian military at the age of sixteen. The Naval base at Shili is completed to 25% and the first elements of the 11th Fleet (only the first battle group as well as parts of the Patrol group) move into the system. Jeff "Joker" Moreau is born.

2607 CE  
Jacob Taylor is born.

David Anderson graduates from Officer Candidate School with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and is assigned to the UNSC Inflexible, an Implacable-Class Carrier assigned to the forming 2nd Battle-group of the 11th Fleet. The Mass Relay in Shanxi that bridges Shanxi to the Shadow Sea System 0001(SSS- 0001) is activated by a CMA exploration flotilla.

**Technical Information**

1 **UNSC ****Battle-group** consists of 2 Carriers(Implacable-Class), 1 Flotilla (12 Ships) of Cruisers (1 Squadron of Autumn II-Class Heavy Cruisers and 2 Squadrons of Ares-Class light-Cruisers a Squadron is made up of 4 ships), 2 Flotillas of Destroyers (various Classes),

1 **UNSC ****Patrol-group** consists of 2 light Cruisers (Ares-Class), 1 Flotilla of Destroyers (various Classes), 3 Flotillas of Frigates (Various Classes)

**UNSC Ships & Weapons**

All ships built after 2530 have a proper 'battle'-bridge that is located close to the center of the ship.

This is because the former position of the bridge turned out to be far to vulnerable to corvettes attacking form ahead and using their one spinally mounted coilgun to take pot shots at it and depressurizing it and thereby decapitating the ship.

The Crossbow-Missile can be armed with either a 'regular'(High-Explosive), a 'laser'(nuclear-bomb-pumped) or a nuclear(Shiva) Warhead.

**Reach-Class Super Carriers **

length: 5000 Meters

width: 800 Meters

height: 1000 Meters

Hull-armor: 5 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 4 MAC (Battleship-sized)

800 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

800 70mm Point Defense Turrets

200 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

100 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 10 batteries)

Crew: 2600 Naval Personnel

Carries a Regiment of Marines

Caries a Battalion of ODST

Can carry up to 20 wings of either fighters or bombers

Can carry 24 Corvettes in internal bays

Can carry 2 Frigates on external hard-points and has a single hanger (normally filled with corvettes) large enough to house a 600 meter long ship

**Implacable-Class Carriers**

length: 3000 Meters

width: 500 Meters

height: 600 Meters

Hull-armor: 4 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 2 MAC (Battleship-sized)

400 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

600 70mm Point Defense Turrets

100 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

50 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 5 batteries)

Crew: 1300 Naval Personnel

Can carry up to 15 wings of either fighters or bombers

Carries a Regiment of Marines

Caries a Battalion of ODST

**Falklands-Class Assault-Carriers**

length: 3500 Meters

width: 600 Meters

height: 800 Meters

Hull-armor: 4 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 3 MAC (Cruiser-sized)

400 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

600 70mm Point Defense Turrets

100 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

50 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 5 batteries)

Crew: 1300 Naval Personnel

Can carry up to 15 wings of either fighters or bombers

Carries a Division of Marines (including an Armored Regiment) and enough landing craft to land them in two waves.

**Autumn II-Class Heavy Cruisers**

length: 1500 Meters

width: 380 Meters

height: 440 Meters

Hull-armor: 3 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 2 MAC (Cruiser-sized)

400 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

400 70mm Point Defense Turrets

100 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

50 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 5 batteries)

Crew: 800 Naval Personnel

Can carry up to 1 wing of fighters

Carries a Regiment of Marines

Caries a Battalion of ODST

**Ares-Class Light Cruisers**

length: 1300 Meters

width: 300 Meters

height: 380 Meters

Hull-armor: 2 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 2 MAC (Cruiser-sized)

300 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

400 70mm Point Defense Turrets

100 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

50 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 5 batteries)

Crew: 700 Naval Personnel

Can carry up to 1 wing of fighters

Carries a Regiment of Marines

Caries a Battalion of ODST

**Roughneck-Class Troop transport**

length: 1300 Meters

width: 300 Meters

height: 380 Meters

Hull-armor: 2 Meters of Titanium-A3 plating

Armament: 100 Crossbow Missile pods (24 Missiles per pod)

500 70mm Point Defense Turrets

100 auto-cannon Anti-Air Turrets

100 coil-gun Turrets (divided into 10 batteries)

Crew: 300 Naval Personnel

Can carry a half-Division of Army or Marine troops and their equipment.

Can enter atmosphere and land on the surface of planets of up to 1,5x the Gravity of Earth.

Authors Note:

This is my first story, so please if you have anything to criticize please make it at least somewhat constructive.

Please note that I am assuming the following distances and FTL ship speeds:

24.000 LY Sol to Khar'Shan

20.000 LY Sol to Citadel

10.000 LY Sol to Exodus Cluster or Sol to Sur'Kesh

UNSC Starships 4,5 LY per Day long distance travel (IE months at a time) are possible with the crew going into Cryostasis.

Citadel Starships 15 LY per Day (maximum of 50 hours of travel before discharge of drives is necessary) as well as frequent refueling.

For Comparison purposes:

Reaper Starships 30 LY per Day

Covenant Starships 912 LY per Day (the Covenant does NOT exist in this Story)

Forerunner Starships 2371 LY per Day


End file.
